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Annalia "Lia" Waters
"Chislev is life." Annalia Waters, daughter of Dargonesti sea-elf Whispersong and estranged mother "Bibby", never had a "homeland". Instead, home was always wherever "her people" were. As part of an unnamed adventure group, she now wonders how big her Home is allowed to be. Testing the limits of divine favour, 'Lia has made it her personal mission to keep all of them alive, for as long as possible, while picking up every dragon and pony she can save along the way. Category:Character Background Whispersong was a cleric to Chislev, the Beast, Wild One, and World Mother, at the temple to Chislev at the bottom of the Peragus Ocean. A part of the deep-sea elven race of Dargonesti, dolphin shape-shifters and faithful worshippers of the Wild One, the world-above-water was only sky, cloud, and random ships sailing by. Then the Great Storm of the year of Anemone washed through, leaving behind wrecks upon wrecks, pieces of broken wood sinking slowly, and bodies sinking faster. As the clerics of the Deep Sea rose to meet the dead for their final rest, Whispersong came across something not quite dead. Three weeks later, he was gone. Whispersong would not easily talk of the next few years. Even his daughter, 'Lia, only ever caught fragments of the tale. But whatever had happened, it had left him unwilling to ever return, with a child, no wife, and with scars. Scratch marks covered his upper body, thin lines of white criss-crossing his soft, grey-blue skin. 'Lia often wondered how he'd gotten them, but whenever she asked, he would tell her a different story. One day he would say he used to fight wolves, defending the wagons of the caravans they often travelled with. The next, he would say he had fought a dragon. The third day, he might claim they were scars from being whipped, when he was banished from the Deep Sea Dargonesti cities. No Dargonesti ever confirmed this tale, though 'Lia only ever came across exiles. As to questions regarding 'Lia's mother, who logically had to exist, he simply refused to talk, though he would occasionally have nightmares, calling for "Bibby" through the night. 'Lia naturally assumed it was her mother's name. As Annalia grew up, she was trained by her father as a cleric, to worship, obey, and request assistance from the World Mother, Chislev. As they travelled, never settling in any place longer than it took for a caravan to start out, he taught her to listen to the wild, to feel the thoughts of a tree, to know the mind of a bird, to tame any beast. Just after she reached initiation to first level nature cleric, though, her father took a rock to the head, and died soon after. In his final days, mind blurred, his nightmares returned even during bright day, and his slurring included more about "Bibby", someone he lovingly called "Starshine", and a lot of nonsense 'Lia wished she'd never heard from her father. There were parts of her parents' relationship she did not need to know details about. Adult Life Having spent all her life travelling, it felt natural for Annalia Waters to find work with the caravans after her father's passing. Within a year, she had joined up with the Sworn Shields, a mercenary protection detail off Minotas?. She grew handy with a crossbow and several other simple weapons, though a stressed situation still made her pray for Sacred Flame to remove unwanted presences. As the years went by, however, her father's last ramblings haunted her, and after a sticky situation with a fellow Shield, involving a parrot, she left the mercenaries to search for her mother. A few weeks in, and short of coin, she decided she might have rushed it. In a sudden epiphany, she realized searching for an unknown person, who most likely wasn't even elven, with nothing to go on other than a couple of nicknames and some -intimate- details, might cost money, and perhaps even her life, and so it was she decided to pick up a quest, and search for a new band of misfits to carry her to riches - or at least medium survival rate and the funds and opportunities to find her missing ancestry. And they might even be more amusing than playing fetch with house rats in her spare time. The quest put her in touch with a pair of misfits, alright, and they were more interesting than rats. Then, divine intervention intervened, as they fell through the floor of a corridor in the middle of their quest, only to bump into another trinity of misfits, lugging a stone statue around. And so began the misfit adventures of 'Lia's journey with an unnamed group of mercenaries... The Curse of Gallus No sooner had the two adventuring groups met, did a curious member manage to activate a curse. Tied together by bonds of purple, necromatic energy and the shared experience of a manifested ghost in paladin's armour, curiosity might have been half the glue in keeping the crew together beyond first payment. 'Lia, on her part, found a rising respect for the strangers, and found herself rising to the challenge as the curious tiefling by the name of Discord decided to be in charge. Aidan and Gandeval, the perplexingly honest fighter and the childishly ostentatious rogue she had originally joined for the mission, were nice people, but overly simple. The addition of two tieflings, and a cold-to-the-touch "Ander" who seemed somewhat withdrawn or distrustful, made life far more interesting. And then they pretty much stumbled upon a tiny gnome. Briyur was ready to fight, and tagged along, but the poor gnome had no idea what was coming... They set off, towards the Sapphire Tower, the largest school of magic on the continent of Morvan, and also a great library, hoping to find some answers. It was a long way to go, and somewhere still close to the Marches, they came upon a storm neverending, centered upon a castle crowded with goblins, hobgoblins, and worse. Sneaking through the woods, they came across a camp, of sorts. As Gandeval slipped in the mud, sliding downhill, almost crashing into the patrol, surprise was thrown to the wind. Fortunately, the group turned out to be peaceful towards humanoids. It was the castle they were after. Talked into helping out, the cursed adventurers staked out the woods, following guides to an underground passage, hoping it would lead to the castle proper. It did. Through tombs, dungeons, and torture/research chambers. Interrupting dark rituals by occultists, they found their way to a room full of eggshells and dragonling remains, and one barely breathing creature. Tired of death, and arrogantly hoping to prove her healing talents, despite her lack of healing spells, 'Lia did her best, and saved the life of a small, bronze dragon. As they climbed up, into the castle and up through the floors, they eventually came to the room of the general. A dragonborn, whether draconian or draconic sorcerer, faced them, and it was a fight they, perhaps, had not been ready for. As Ander hit the floor, dying, Gallus reappeared, revealing his true colours, as he entered the body of the dying magician, and took it over, before vanishing. The party killed the dragonborn, but the loss of Anders was real, and for 'Lia... a clock began ticking. Trivia - If Dargonesti have family names, Whispersong never mentioned it. 'Lia's use of Waters started out as an act of pure irony, as her father kept telling her how he came from the Water, while she walked around as the only child without either a family name or a hometown. - Annalia spent most of her childhood sailing on rivers, as her father adapted to life above water. Not very fond of cold water, she only swam in the heat of summer, and spent the rest of the year handling fishing boats, ferries, and the occasional barge. - 'Lia used to train birds as her personal pet spies. Her greatest success might have been her tri-coloured parrot, Rainbrain, if he hadn't been so eager to yell at 'Lia's colleague the moment he saw a raisin in his hand. - Though most half-elves are half human, 'Lia has shown no specifically human traits, and she suspects the story of her origins might be a little more complicated than that. - "Rusty Hide" was the first dragon 'Lia had ever seen in real life, and saving the nearly dead baby boosted her confidence greatly. A bond strengthened during a period of great strain, Rusty will always have a special place in 'Lia's heart. - Chislev is the divine of instinct. Her partner is the divine of wisdom, the world tree. The world tree reaches both all realms and all times, specifically. The neutral gods of Dragonlance are basically good, but resent conflict.